Day 17: June 3

Bridge of Cally to Tomintoul

96 km / 1700 m

A memorable ride that you will be proud to have accomplished.  With time to stop in Braemar and catch glimpses of Balmoral Castle, today you will have ticked all the boxes.  This is a day of classic Highland scenery, and the miles to Tomintoul will fly by with the epic views!

This was to be our biggest climbing day today, and thankfully the weather held for us (more or less).  It was billed as a long and tough day, and I think people were a bit anxious to get at it.  It didn't help that breakfast was at 8 (a half hour later than usual), and somehow the restaurant staff made it more difficult than it needed to be.  Oh well - we all finally got sorted and on our way.  I quickly regressed to just about the back of the pack, but resolved to limit my picture-taking for the first bit of the ride so that I wouldn't hold things up too much.  We started at "Bridge of Cally", so of course the very first bit was climbing out of the river valley.  Then a more gradual uphill for about 25 km.  We entered Cairngorms National Park at about 15 km, but there was no sign to indicate it.  Not much in the way of civilization all day.  These few first pics are from about the first 25 km.

As we continued to climb the terrain became more barren, expansive, and impressive, and I had to bring the camera out a bit more.  The climb from about 25 to 30 km was a bit more intense and we had our first tea break at the Glenshee Ski Area.  Beautiful, beautiful stark terrain in all directions.

Our road winds up, up, up towards the upper right of the picture.

The lift was operating to transport tourists to the top (maybe mountain bikers too, although I didn't look closely).  This is not where you come to work on your glade skiing.

The next 30-ish km was pretty much all downhill; yay!  We passed through Braemar and I had forgotten that that was where to look for Balmoral Castle, or rather the tippy top of the flagpole to which no flag was attached.  False advertising, Peter says.  There's no chance of catching a glimpse......  I sure enjoyed the downhill, though.  The poles on the sides of the road would indicate they can get some pretty deep snow dumps in these parts.  Amy had a picnic lunch waiting for us near the bottom of the long downhill.  At that point we seemed to be enjoying a bit of a tailwind, sometimes mixed with a bit of a crosswind from the west.  

Here are some shots from the top of the downhill to Braemar.

And then the leg from Braemar to lunch at about 35 miles.  The big car one of the pics below is 6 young Dutch guys on a road trip, prepared for all eventualities.

Finishing off the flat-ish section after lunch, and then another uphill begins.

After several false summits we finally reach the real thing.

And back down.  You can see the road off into the distance.

We went over this lovely old stone bridge, now closed to vehicular traffic.

Oh look........  it's time to go up again............

And down...........

Now, somewhere along the way the somewhat breezy day turned into a dangerous wind event.  Welcome to Scotland............  I'm guessing the gusts (headwind and crosswind) were well over 50 kmph either side of the top of the next climb.  I walked quite a bit of it.  Some of it because of the grade, but often because I just couldn't keep the bike upright.  I even got tossed around a bit walking with it.  Kudos to those who were able to ride it.

I think someone forgot to finish the shearing job.........

Apparently red squirrels are "a thing" around these parts.

Yes, I got right into my low gear.  Our final climb of the day up to yet another ski area.

Partway up the hill............  There are holes in the rock that you can look through to the landscape below.  Also - the seats are a good place to get out of the wind.

We still have a ways to go to the top.  Too windy for me to ride.

Our last summit and van stop of the day.  All downhill from here.  About 10 km.  I managed to ride the whole thing, but it was pretty darned windy most of the way.  I did have to get off a few times and let the gusts blow through.  Thankfully not a lot of traffic.  

I think if I were a drinker that sign would hold more meaning for me.  

We were all in to the hotel in good time.  The owner remarked that we were in unusually good spirits.  She said the group was usually miserable by the time they got in.  But, 'twas another great day.  There apparently is a downside to being the last one in.  All the hot water was gone and I didn't get a shower until after dinner.  No working wifi.  No towel rack for my clothes, and I don't think they'll dry overnight.  Oh well......  I'm guessing our amenities will continue to diminish as we head further north.  Weather forecast is iffy for tomorrow.  And - it looks like another stiff headwind all day.  Let's hope our good luck continues...........

Tomintoul:

Population:  700

Tomintoul is a village in Scotland in the historic county of Banffshire.  It is said by some to be the highest village in the Scottish Highlands (although not in all of Scotland).  The town was established in 1775 in the hopes that establishing a proper village would help stamp out cattle stealing and illegal distilling.  Not sure that worked; in 1820 some 14,000 illegal stills were confiscated annually in the area.  In 1823 laws changed to allow making whiskey under license and that was the start of the now world-famous Glenlivet distillery.  

We passed through Cairngorms National Park today.  It is the largest National Park in the UK, more than twice the size of the Lake District.  The park encompasses the highest landmass in Britain - a broad mountain plateau, riven only by the deep valleys of the Lairig Ghru and Loch Avon, with an average altitude of more than 1000m and including five of the six highest summits in the UK.  This wild mountain landscape of granite and heather has a sub-Arctic climate and supports rare alpine tundra vegetation and high-altitude bird species such as snow bunting, ptarmigan, and dotterel.

Hotel:  Hotel Square   www.hotelsquare.co.uk  

Ride Stats:

96.9 km

1703 m (5587 feet)

The Route: